Duties of a Shogun
by When Snow Melts Away
Summary: Set after the second anime series. Shuurei has accepted Ryuuki's gamble, and has decided to agree on marrying him. But has she got enough confidence to face the wedding night? That worry leads her to seek help from Ran-Shogun...  Shuuei X Shuurei X Ryuuki
1. Chapter 1 The request

**Hi there! I just finished watching the anime and I have to say, from the first episode on I was totally into Ran Shuuei (and still am). Such a cool character... So, well I thought I'd write something starring him, but I didn't really want to pair him either, so...anyway, here's my story. **

**Disclaimer: I do not own Saiunkoku Monogatari, otherwise Shuuei would have been the male lead character lol **

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><p>It was by the end of March that Kou Shuurei started to worry about the gamble that Ryuuki had suggested her a few months ago. She had agreed too easily back then: she had not taken everything into consideration, as she should have done beforehand. Hadn't she always been the kind of person who does not make any decision before having taken the matter into consideration very carefully, reflecting on every angle and every single possibility it could lead to? So, why, oh Gods, WHY had she acted so out of character at that time? Was it because she was too happy to still be waited on, after all these sufferings she knew she had been imposing on Ryuuki? Was it because love, as people say, is always out of reason's reach? Oh, the reason didn't really matter, after all. Now was not the time to reflect on it: she had a more urgent matter to settle. Besides, it was already evening, and she was still in the archives with a report to finish.<p>

The thing was, she could less and less concentrate. That stupid gamble was driving her crazy. To tell the truth, she thought she had never felt so stressed out in her whole life: the approaching deadline made her so nervous she could barely think of anything else. In a few weeks, when the cherry blossoms would bloom, she would agree on marrying Ryuuki. She would marry him. Yes, she would give up on her career and become his wife. She'd move inside the palace to live with him… Oh! they'd certainly be happy. She would dedicate her life to him and help him to the very best of her capabilities. She would bear him an heir…

''An heir!'' she gasped and tried to shrug the thought off, but it was already too late. Panicked, she wrapped and settled her work, leaving it to be finished the next day, and left the palace in a hurry, almost running, with the intention to get home quickly, sit down, brew some Kanru tea and pretend the whole situation was all a lie, and that she was just going to live on merrily as she always had, together with her father and Seiran. So she ran, but her feet seemed to have chosen a different path than her head…and that was how she found herself, panting from the effort of her racing here, in front of the Ran Manor.

''Wow, what a clever move, Shuurei!'' she sarcastically praised herself. ''Coming here is the worst thing I could have done now, or is it? I should just go home. Even though I'm already here now… Should I really just go home? ''

While she pondered this and hesitated on whether to knock or not, a man servant who had noticed her opened the door and welcomed her, politely asking if there was someone she wished to be introduced to. Clenching her fists to gather up her courage, her eyes closed and her head slightly bowed in an attempt to hide her blushing, Shuurei managed to calmly name herself to the man servant and express her wish to be introduced to Ran-Shogun. Presuming she was yet another of his master's admirer, the man smiled within himself to the sight of her apparent shyness, and replied that Ran-Shogun would probably meet her soon, since he rarely ever declined to meet with a beautiful young lady like her. ''Especially at night…'' He gave her a wink and disappeared inside the manor, leaving a heavily blushing Shuurei at the door.

It wasn't very long until she was welcomed in by none other than Ran Shuuei himself, his handsome face bearing a very puzzled and worried expression. He was wrapped in an evening robe and wore his long hair down, which, according to Shuurei, made his traits look gentler, though still in a very manly way.

''Shuurei-dono? Please come in. Are you alright?'' he asked in a deep, caring voice. Since she replied nothing, he insisted.

''What's wrong, Shuurei-dono? It is most unusual for you to pay me a visit - although I am very honoured… - and moreover it's night already... Can I be of any help to you?''

The young lady official still kept silent, her gaze fixed on the floor. She looked sad and nervous, yet determined. He then knew that, no matter what she came to him for, he needed not pressing her, she would speak up when she felt ready to. He knew Shuurei well enough to be certain of that. So he just smiled, and grabbed her hand in his large, callused one to lead her to the tea parlor.

''Let's have tea, shall we?''

Luckily for Shuurei, Saiunkoku's Shogun was very well-bred, and knew how to brew tea to perfection. The beverage's flavour wasn't too bitter nor too diluted, and when he poured it in their cups, she couldn't help but admire the masculine grace of his calculated yet elegant movements.

''It is the first time that you have brewed tea for me, Ran-Shogun. You do it very well.'', she praised him with a sincere smile, yet not a very bright one.

''That is true. I guess the opportunity has never come up before tonight. Like I said earlier, I do not receive visits from you very often. Last time I think was just before I left for Ran Province, was it?''

''Indeed. At that time, I came to see you for business. ''

''Isn't that also the case tonight?'', he asked, certain that she would confirm his guess.

For a long time there was silence, and then she shook her head.

''No, tonight is different.''

Again there was silence. He, on the one hand, was surprised and did not really know what she meant or how to react, and she, on the other, had not yet gathered all the courage she needed to communicate him the goal of her visit. Slowly, Shuuei poured himself another cup of tea: Shuurei's was still half-full, so he decided not to offer a refill.

''I came…'' began she, ''because I have decided to accept Ryuuki's proposal.''

''Woah! But, that's good news, isn't it? Does he know, yet?''

She shook her head.

''He's going to be overjoyed!'' Shueei continued. ''But, Shuurei-dono, why are you looking so uneasy? And why did you announce it to me first? Isn't that the kind of thing you should first tell His Majesty?''

''That's because….if I marry Ryuuki…I'll….'' the young lady blushed heavily then, and, avoiding his gaze, threw in one breath: ''I'll-have-to-bear-him-an-heir-so-I'll-have-to-have-sex-with-him-right?''

''Er…that is correct?'' answered the Shogun, puzzled.

This time Shuurei lifted her head, and although still blushing, looked at him in the eyes and, with a very serious voice, finally dared to ask:

''Ran-Shogun, please teach me about sex.''

Shuuei's eyes widened from astonishment, and his chin fell too, leaving him open-mouthed for a few seconds.

''Whaa- ? -T-t-That's nons…I mean- What are you say-saying?'' he stuttered.

''I said: Ran-Shogun, please teach me about sex. I'm so nervous about having sex with him that I'm afraid I'll turn Ryuuki's proposal down just because I'm afraid he won't be satisfied… maybe he'll get tired of me, I mean, what if I am no good? I'm totally inexperienced so I –''

''But even if that is the case, why did you come to me? And how am I supposed to teach you about sex? Want me to explain how to…pleasure a man? Or such things? ''

''No, if I wanted theory, I would have asked Kouyou-sama, but…''

She was interrupted by loud laughter.

''Sorry for my rudeness'' apologized Shuuei still choking with laughter, ''but that is the funniest thing I've heard lately. I'm just having the image of Kouyou's face if you had asked him to teach you about sex, oh God, it's just hilarious…. Never ask that guy, who knows what knowledge he has of such things anyway - and he'll be embarrassed to death if you do. But, couldn't you have asked Kouchou or something?''

'' I guess I could have. But, like I said, I do not want theory, I want to experience the real thing…and…I thought…who knows best about such things, if not Ran-Shogun, a man who's skills in bed are even worth Kouchou's praise... Do you know, you're the only man she praises? So…I have to admit also, I am a bit curious, knowing this, about how it feels like to be held by such a man…''

Shuurei's shyness on that subject pierced through the way she uttered those sentences. Her face was a very pretty shade of pink, and her gaze fixed on her cup of tea. She was indeed very cute. A kind of smirk-ish smile grew on Shuuei's face as he let the meaning of her words sink in.

''Could it be, Shuurei-dono, that you actually want me?''

Her cheeks turned bright red again.

''About that…I…er…I guess I can't really deny…''

''If that is the case then it can't be helped. I will teach you about sex.''

He rose and called for a servant. Within a few seconds, an old lady appeared in the room, to whom Shuuei discretely gave orders. Then, he turned back to the young official who still sat at the table sipping her tea.

''So then, Shuurei-dono, would you like to bathe first?''


	2. Chapter 2  The lesson begins

''That is to be expected from Ran Shuuei'' thought Shuurei as the old lady servant lead her into a spartan yet elegant room she supposed to be the Shogun's. Earlier on, she had been stricken by the idea that it was most probably on purpose that Ran-Shogun had suggested she should bathe: the very minute she felt the warm water on her skin, she felt soothed by its comfortable contact, and found herself relaxing, releasing all of her busy day's tension. She had almost forgotten what she had come here for… And now, as she stood there alone in his room, she marvelled at the Shogun's ability to calculate as much and to make it happen so very casually. She had come to him totally out of the blue with that weird request, yet, even if he had been surprised, his mind and character were flexible enough to adapt themselves to a new situation with an almost scaring ease. Perhaps it was that trait that made him a good Shogun.

Lost in her wonderings, Shuurei did not hear the man that occupied her mind at the moment enter the room. Noticing that she was not yet conscious of his presence, Shuuei took advantage of the fact that she was standing with her back facing him to surprise her. Slowly and carefully silencing his footsteps, he walked toward her, and when he came close enough, threw his arms around her in an embrace, pressing her back against his chest. She was startled, but relaxed when she recognized his shape and scent.

She had always secretly loved the Shogun's scent: it was manly, yet refined, not too strong nor too subtle, it was enveloping and warm, and although she couldn't really put a finger on what his odor was like, sometimes at the end of summer when one could feel, through the heavy warmness of the sun, that autumn was on its ways, sometimes at that time of year she had caught a smell in the air that reminded her of him. The comfort of his arms and broad shoulders she already knew, too. Back then Ran-Shogun had accepted to ride with her to the Sa province, and they had shared a similar embrace on a 8 days long horseback ride. She had not told a soul, but she had loved that experience, the feeling of security his proximity casted on her. How soothing was it to feel it again, now!

He felt her body lose tension as she totally accepted his embrace. Slowly, sensually, Shuuei started to caress her, sliding his hands from her shoulders to her waist, slightly brushing the curve of her breasts along the way. He drew his face closer to her ear and sent a light breath on its lobe, tickling her skin. Then he gently kissed and nibbled at it before he whispered into it:

''From now on and until dawn, call me Shuuei.''

His large hands explored her body in a firm, yet gentle way. That kind of touch, her body understood it faster than her mind, meant that he was respecting her and taking care of her, but that he was and would always be the one in control. From kissing her ear, he went on kissing her neck, before to turn her face toward him to meet her lips. He kissed her firmly, not begging nor coaxing or conquering, just in an affirmative, confident manner. Feeling her kiss back, he slowly deepened the kiss, managing to turn it into a passionate one without her even noticing it before he broke it. And when he did, what she felt was: emptiness. She looked at him with puzzled eyes, in which he discerned a small gleam of fear that everything would end now. He smirked, and, spinning her swiftly to face him, said in a low voice:

''Lesson One: build your partner's desire for you up to the fullest''

Shuuei then resumed kissing her, letting his hands wander on her body again. With each kiss growing more and more fiery, his lips told hers always the same thing: I am a man. A real one. An affirmation that only made her aware of one thing: that she was a woman.

Suddenly she felt herself fall backwards on the bed. Shuuei kissed her jaw line, neck and collarbone as his hands worked on undoing her silk robes. Once it was loosened, he tucked on the upper part to reveal the ivory skin of her chest. She looked so cute with her face flushed and her small, round breasts exposed with her nipples already erect he felt a rush of blood in his lower body. Oh he really wanted to do her…But he put the thought aside for now, for he knew how to enjoy these kinds of things best, and it was going to be worth being patient for sure. Now that he had exposed her breasts, he was going to make her want him to touch them.

She was certain he would touch her chest now, and anticipated it. But then she felt his hands on her waist, caressing her from there to the warm spot just underneath the breasts, but not touching them. He worked his way upwards on her arms to reach her shoulders, massaging them. He kissed her collarbone, his long hair tickling her skin, making her shiver with want. Very slowly he descended his mouth lower, until he reached the space between her breasts, and he started to suck on her skin, making her moan.

''S-Shuuei…''

She'd only said his name, but Shuuei knew what she really meant, for he had often heard it. He had always loved it when his name meant ''please touch me more'' in the mouth of a woman.

So he granted her wish and cupped her breasts, enjoying the smoothness of her skin. The callousness of his hands on her was yet another reminder of his manly strength. It was perhaps the contradiction between the controlled gentleness of his touch and the roughness of his hands that was so alluring, or perhaps was it only because he was skilled, she had no way to know, but she felt really excited, and a strange tingling sensation was triggered in her lower body. As Shuuei's fingers pinched her nipples, a louder moan escaped her lips. It felt so good. Everything he did felt so good. Even when he was touching places she had always thought innocent like her neck, or her shoulders, or her belly, he left her skin burning with the desire to be touched even more.

As he sucked on one of her nipples, Shuuei slid his hands in her lower robes to find her hips, caressing the womanly curve before reaching still lower to meet her upper thighs. His touch went from gentle to firm as he added more passion. Shuurei's right hand was tangled in his long hair, and her left lay on the base of his neck, caressing him hesitantly still. He grabbed her ass, loving it's full feeling in his hands, thinking she would probably be a wonderful sight if he took her from backwards. And suddenly he felt it, the signal he was waiting for. Her hips were pressing against his body, subconsciously anticipating the coitus. He pulled away from her.

''Shu-Shuuei?''

She sat up, alarmed and frustrated, glaring at him, a glare to which he smiled in answer.

''Okay, I think the theory for Lesson One is learned. Let's see what you can do when it comes to practice, now…''

''What do you mean?'' Shuurei was at a loss.

''What was Lesson One, Shuurei?''

''Er…make your partner's desire for you grow to the fullest, or something along the lines…''

''That's pretty much it. So. Make me want you, Shuurei.'', ordered the Shogun in a deliberately seducing tone, sitting beside her on the bed.


	3. Chapter 3 Pleasuring

**Author's note: I think this chapter is pretty hot...**

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><p>Shuurei gazed at the man beside her, perplex. Since then he had been controlling everything, making her feel his dominance over her, and now he was so casually handing the control over to her. She sat hesitantly, wondering how to begin, looking into his eyes from some sort of help she supposed, but then again she didn't really know what it was that she wanted to find in his eyes anyway.<p>

Shuuei, leaning slightly backwards, his weight on his two hands, gave off a vibe of calmness and reliability. His lips were closed, yet he was smiling, and his eyes held a gentle, playful expression. Shuurei found him gorgeous, especially with his hair down like this. She moved toward him, slowly, and tentatively brushed his cheeks, watching as he closed his eyes to enjoy the caress. She let her hands travel to his neck, toward the nape, where she massaged him briefly before to move on to his shoulders, repeating the same motion. Shuuei let his head fall to the left, and the sight of his neck urged her to kiss him there. She decided to let herself act on instinct, to forget about reason and sensibility for a while, and to let her body speak openly.

Growing bolder upon that decision, Shuurei, still kissing and sucking on the Shogun's neck, slipped her hands into his evening robe to feel the toned muscles of his chest.

''So this is what a man feels like'' the Kou Princess thought to herself. ''Who would have thought that it'd be so pleasant to touch….a man's skin…'' She was definitely enjoying this. Although… she regretted a bit that Shuuei seemed to have quit his dominating mood. She wouldn't tell him but… she had also enjoyed it. Suddenly he leaned lower on his arms, causing his robe to loosen and reveal more skin. She let her caresses reach lower, onto his abs and near the pubic area. She hadn't yet touched it, but could somehow sense the throbbing erection that hid in the Shogun's lap.

Then Shuuei grabbed her head and pulled her closer to him, embracing her. Their loosened robes were falling from their shoulders as the bare skin of their chests pressed one against the other. From a slight movement of his head she understood that he wanted her to kiss him, so she happily complied, putting in her gesture her own desire to be kissed by him. She wanted him to feel it, that she wanted to kiss him too. And that was when it stuck her: Shuuei had never handed the control over to her: he had merely pretented it to be the case. With every little movement he made, she could read his desire, and had obeyed him carefully.

''What a man! But then again that's to be expected of Ran Shuuei'' was her last coherent thought before he caused her mind to go numb from kissing her.

Somehow he managed to get them both out of their robes, and reluctantly stopping from passionately kissing Shuurei for a moment, he laid her down on her flank and positioned himself behind her, holding her against him. In that position, she would feel secure and comfortable and he would have an easy access to her body.

''So Shuurei, next lesson is…how to pleasure'' he whispered into her ear, and his voice was like a lascivious temptation.

He grabbed her breasts and massaged them, flicking his thumb on her erect nipples and occasionally pinched them, which caused her to moan his name. Then she felt one of his large hands travel across her belly, reaching lower for her already wet womanhood. She gasped as she felt him touch her there, teasing with only the fingertips as he worked his way toward her clitoris with his thumb, while his longer fingers prepared to enter her folds. His other hand was still fondling her breast, and his mouth trailing kissing down her neck as he slowly pushed them in, one by one, pumping her in between each addition. Her moans were loud now and he could feel her shiver from pleasure.

Shuurei suddenly heard Shuuei groan next to her ear, and pull his hand out of her sex, but before she had time to wonder what was going, he had already picked her hand up and guided her toward his erection. She immediately understood what he wanted from her, and as she wrapped her hand around his hard shaft, beginning to pump him a bit clumsily at first, he had resumed his previous activities.

''Sh-ShuuEIIIII, please, please, Shuuei…st-stop…ah! Shuuei!''

Her respiration had become scattered. The waves of pleasure he sent through her body were so fierce she had to gather the little remaining amount of concentration she had left to masturbate him properly. She couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't.

''I know you're close, pretty Shuurei. Come for me, now.''

Not long after, his skilled hands, combined to his nibbling on her ear, got the better of her and he felt the inside walls of her vagina tighten against his fingers as she reached her release.

He granted her a few moments to settle down a bit, kissing her neck and cheeks. Then, sliding his fingers out of her, Shuuei laid down on his back, and swiftly grabbed her by the ankle, flipping her around so that she was now on all fours above him, her dripping sex just inches from his face. She grew shy to be exposed in that shameful way, but forgot all about it when she felt the Shogun's tongue flicker against her clitoris. His tongue on her like that…felt…so… divinely good….

In front of her now was Shuuei's tantalizing erection. She had touched it, but hadn't seen it yet. It stood so proudly, so dominating and manly, she felt the urge to pleasure it's owner, and resumed masturbating him. But then he paused from licking her only to let out the words: ''Your mouth, Shuurei.''

Without any hesitation, she obeyed him right away, licking along his shaft before to insert the tip of his cock in her mouth. She sucked it, trying to take him in as much as she could, really putting her heart into her fellatio. She felt so incredibly good with him right now, giving pleasure as she was receiving some, he really did blow her mind away. Although he was not manifesting his pleasure with sounds, as she was – he was a military man, after all - she felt sure, just by the way his hands ran through her hair or petted her hips, that he was enjoying himself too.

After a while, he announced, his voice coarse and broken, that he was going to come. Before she had any time to react, a warm, bitter liquid squirted out of his manhood, which she swallowed out of surprise, an involuntary act for which she got praised by Shuuei afterwards.

''You're pretty good, you know'' he added, pulling her down to him, and he kissed her. He kissed her lips, her nose, her eyes, her forehead, her cheeks, buried his face in her hair. Her naked skin pressed against his own and he felt a rush of blood revive his cock with another powerful gush of desire. If only that woman could be his…

She laid down in his arms, kissing his neck, his collarbone, his chest, hornier still than before. She felt it couldn't stop there. She wanted him, she wanted to be closer to him, closer still. She needed to become one with him, right now.

''Shuuei…''

There was one thing that Shuuei loved most that his name meaning: ''please touch me more''. It was when his name meant: ''please do me now''.


End file.
